Whose Glory?

Have you ever had anyone come to you and say, “I’d like you to bring me glory.”  I doubt that such a sentence has ever come to your ears, and if it has, I doubt it was received very well.  Human beings don’t take very kindly to the idea of bringing glory to others…at least we don’t want to think of it that way.  But in fact, when you recommend a restaurant, you bring that restaurant “glory”.  If someone works on your car and you recommend him to a friend, you have brought “glory” to your mechanic.  But we don’t want someone else to demand that we bring them glory…then they are probably not going to get a very good recommendation.

In Matthew 5:16 Jesus said this, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  These are very interesting words.  The idea is that the follower of Jesus is to live his/her life in such a way that others will see that life and give glory to God.  We are not to receive the glory.  We are not to hold onto the glory.  We are to bring glory to God.  We are meant to live in such a way that others are to give glory to God as they watch us.

That can happen every time you receive a compliment and you respond by saying, “I’m thankful to God for giving me the ability to sing, or draw or whatever”.  That can happen as you navigate the difficult waters of suffering and as people marvel silently or publicly about how you have handled yourself.  Give God the credit.  He deserves the credit after all.  And when we give Him the credit we bring Him glory.

Think back over the past 6 months.  How many opportunities have you had to demonstrate God’s glory in your life?  Are you quick to point people to God?  I’m not thinking so much about the athlete who points to the sky whenever something good happens.  I think Jesus has something a little bit more substantive than that.  But in everything we do we have the opportunity to shine and to bring glory to God.